Ask yourself this: "Self, am I skimming and glancing over the Word of God? Or am I READING?"
Just because I'm taking in a lot of information and quickly getting through the book or passage doesn't mean I'm reading it. I'm looking with my eyes but I'm not always listening with my heart, it and my mind is usually somewhere else. Such as my to-do list.
Just because I'm taking in a lot of information and quickly getting through the book or passage doesn't mean I'm reading it. I'm looking with my eyes but I'm not always listening with my heart, it and my mind is usually somewhere else. Such as my to-do list.
What's the point of reading if I'm not going to retain and understand any of it? Is it for bragging rights,
for prideful thoughts? Prideful thoughts are in vain and it doesn't matter if I read 5 verses or if I read 5
chapters, what matters is if I'm truly getting the full intent of it, or if I'm reading to read.
“You will never get comfort to your soul out of what you do not understand, nor find guidance for your life out of what you do not comprehend;”1
Reading the Word is like spiritual food time, so ask the Lord to bless your time “eating” it before hand, and ask also for alertness while you are reading. No sleeping!
Often times the things hidden in Scriptures are not so that we can't understand them, it's so that those who are diligent and willing to seek and pry and listen, can know them after some studying. We don't always get to know everything right away, Jesus wants us to use our minds and ask Him questions, and really look for answers, so that it isn't spoon fed but it is something we have searched for and learned.
Praying for wisdom is like asking the author of the book to share some insight on what they really meant when it was written. Oftentimes I can get so confused with the text that instead of asking the Holy Spirit for His help in understanding, I instead just skim over it, overlook it, and move on in attempts to understand the next verse. That's so wrong, I should be asking the Holy Spirit for His help, the text is there for us to learn from, if I'm just skipping over something because I don't get it, then I'm not learning anything.
There are amazing nuggets of truth & spiritual applications hidden in the History texts...if only you look. You must have the Holy Spirit there with you, and you must have a desire to know it. I know I haven't been very good at all about that, skipping over passages that “I've read a million times” and thinking to myself “do I really need to read about how the temple was built...again....?” when in reality that is such a poor view of the Word of God! How sad I do that.
Jesus Christ is there if I'm willing to look, but I must be willing to search, to dig, because He is worth it. I want to grow strong in the Lord, I want to be a healthy christian. Not only a healthy christian though, but someone who LOVES Jesus, who can't get enough of Jesus. I will get into that with a future post... I have some interesting insight from someone that I would like to share with you all about obsessing over Jesus! Very cool and I look forward to writing it!
I hope you guys take the above words and ask yourself questions, like really ask God to look into your heart to see if all those things apply to your life. It's cool and will change your thinking, how you view the Lord, and how you treat God's Word.
God bless, and blog soon
“You will never get comfort to your soul out of what you do not understand, nor find guidance for your life out of what you do not comprehend;”1
Reading the Word is like spiritual food time, so ask the Lord to bless your time “eating” it before hand, and ask also for alertness while you are reading. No sleeping!
Often times the things hidden in Scriptures are not so that we can't understand them, it's so that those who are diligent and willing to seek and pry and listen, can know them after some studying. We don't always get to know everything right away, Jesus wants us to use our minds and ask Him questions, and really look for answers, so that it isn't spoon fed but it is something we have searched for and learned.
Praying for wisdom is like asking the author of the book to share some insight on what they really meant when it was written. Oftentimes I can get so confused with the text that instead of asking the Holy Spirit for His help in understanding, I instead just skim over it, overlook it, and move on in attempts to understand the next verse. That's so wrong, I should be asking the Holy Spirit for His help, the text is there for us to learn from, if I'm just skipping over something because I don't get it, then I'm not learning anything.
There are amazing nuggets of truth & spiritual applications hidden in the History texts...if only you look. You must have the Holy Spirit there with you, and you must have a desire to know it. I know I haven't been very good at all about that, skipping over passages that “I've read a million times” and thinking to myself “do I really need to read about how the temple was built...again....?” when in reality that is such a poor view of the Word of God! How sad I do that.
Jesus Christ is there if I'm willing to look, but I must be willing to search, to dig, because He is worth it. I want to grow strong in the Lord, I want to be a healthy christian. Not only a healthy christian though, but someone who LOVES Jesus, who can't get enough of Jesus. I will get into that with a future post... I have some interesting insight from someone that I would like to share with you all about obsessing over Jesus! Very cool and I look forward to writing it!
I hope you guys take the above words and ask yourself questions, like really ask God to look into your heart to see if all those things apply to your life. It's cool and will change your thinking, how you view the Lord, and how you treat God's Word.
God bless, and blog soon
1 C.H. Spurgeon
